Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!olivea!uunet!bfmny0!tneff
From: tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff)
Newsgroups: comp.mail.misc
Subject: Re: Smail 3.1 Mailing Lists -- Reply-To????
Message-ID: <20452337@bfmny0.BFM.COM>
Date: 8 Feb 91 10:36:36 GMT
References: <121545@uunet.UU.NET> <1991Feb07.154817.1580@chinet.chi.il.us> <121644@uunet.UU.NET>
Reply-To: tneff@bfmny0.BFM.COM (Tom Neff)
Lines: 50

I advocate sending them out this way:

	From: originalguy@his.site (Original Posting User)
	To: listname@my.site (The Mailing List)
	Subject: Whatever
	Reply-To: listname@my.site
	Errors-To: listname-request@my.site
	Sender: listname-request@my.site

	original message text...

with the Envelope-From set to "listname-request," and Envelope-To
containing the actual list of recipients.  This may not be what Kyle
likes, but I find it works best in the vast majority of cases, and
generates lots of nice revenue for Kyle's friends at UUNET.

Specifically, I do NOT want the default behavior of 'reply' to be only a
private response to the original poster.  I do NOT want the user to have
to go to extra effort, or learn a different command, in order to respond
to the list as a whole.  I set these lists up for discussion!  That's
their raison d'etre, and it's my job as moderator to make it as easy as
possible for discussion to proceed.  If someone wants to take a topic
"off the reservation" and continue it privately, let THEM make the
effort to edit headers.

Does this sometimes result in stuff that should be private getting sent
to the entire list?  Yes, but only very rarely.  I'm definitely erring
on the right direction.  (I also have safeguards - see below.)

Does this ever result in bounce messages getting rebroadcast to the
entire list?  Never!  It just doesn't happen.  Either mailers are smart
enough to see Errors-To: and Sender: and use that, or they're so dumb
they use the Envelope-From.  Occasionally something will use From:
instead, so that the original poster gets the bounce, but not too often.
I periodically remind subscribers to forward me anything funny they
might get from the list.  Certainly this would happen under anyone's
scheme, Kyle's included.

Finally, to keep things buttoned up, I have filters.  Nothing from
MAILER-DAEMON, uucp et al. is permitted to go to the list.  Nothing with
a null Subject line or a message body shorter than a few lines goes out.
Nothing saying "please {subscribe|add|remove|drop|change}" or a few
other variants is transmitted.  Nothing from specified "watch list"
users, or mentioning "watch list" topics, goes.  What doesn't go, gets
shunted to a holding pen for my inspection.  If the filter was
overzealous I pipe the message back through with an approval stamp and
it goes out.

The goal is to make it easy for users to discuss topics of interest
worldwide, and easy for me to moderate the resulting flow.